Conveyer or cable clamp



July 19, 1938.

C. G. DELLENBACH CONVEYER OR CABLE CLAMP Filed Feb. 25, 1937 I PatentedJuly 19, 1938 2,124,485 CONVEYER OR CABLE CLAMP Charles G. Dellenbach,Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, acorporation of Ohio Application February 26, 1937, Serial No. 127,928

8 Claims;

This invention relates to a conveyer or cable clamp and particularly toan improvement in devices of this type in which a separate key is formedto cooperate with the complementary members of the clamp toprevent anyslipping of the cable with respect to the clamp.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novelfeatures and combinations being set forth in the. appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing, I

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a cable carrying apair of flights or clamps comprising my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged end View of the flight or clamp comprising myinvention;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2,looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3,looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 5 is an end view of a locking key prior to its final formation; I

Fig. 6 is a side view of the key of Fig. 5 after it has been finallyformed;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the key of and Fig. 8 is a perspective view ofthe key of Fig. 6. Referring particularly to Fig. 1 of the draw Fig. 6;

1 ing, there is seen a cable I!) which is a multiple flights It will beeliminated which will, in efiect,

convert said flights into transmission blocks. It may be stated thattransmission blocks are employed in a scraper type of conveyer for thepurpose of insuring proper driving of the cable ID from the drivesprocket where it' is not desirable to have all'conveyin'g flights.

Each of the flights I I comprises a clamp memher or casting I2 providedwith a longitudinally extending groove I3 which is straight and ofuniform diameter, thereby receiving the cable I0 without bending ordeforming said cable I9.

Cooperating with the clamp member I2 is a complementary clamp member orcasting I4 pro vided with a longitudinally extending tongue I5 adaptedto extend into the groove I3 and to cooperate with said groove I3 toelfect a clamp-' ing action on the. cable H3. As is clearly illus;tratecl in Fig. 2 of the drawing the cable contacting face It of thetongue I5 is a segment of a cylinder whereby it will contact a pluralityof 5 strands of the cable It without effecting an appreciabledeformation thereof.

The clamp members I2 and M are provided with abutment head members I!and I8, re-

spectively, at each end, which head members I1 110,

and I8 cooperate to provide abutment means which cooperate with thedrive sprocket to drive the cable conveyer. By virtue of thesubstantially duplicate arrangement of the head mem-z bers I7 and I 8 ateach end of the flights-I lit is evident that said flights II may beclamped to the cable II in either of two reverse positions wherebyshould one pair of head members I1, l8 become worn the flights may bereversed .to present a new pair for active service.

' Centrally disposed with respect to the clamp members I2 and I4 Iprovide a pair of complementary Webs or flanges I9 and 20, carried bythe clamp members I2 and I4, respectively. It is manifest that saidflanges I9 and 20 cooperate to provide a substantially'continuousdisc-like flight which, in operation, may move ina trough to conveymaterial by a scraping action in; a well-known manner. I i

Extending through the clamp members l2 and I4 is a plurality of bolts2!, four in number, provided with appropriate nuts 5.22. It is evidentthat the nuts I22 may be screwed home to clamp the members I 2 and I4together, whereupon the tongue I5-will effect a clamping action on thecable III with the grooves. I3;

I have found from practice that the device of the type so far describedis reasonably satisfactory, but that under very high load there may be atendency for the flight or cable clamp II to slip with respect to'cableI0. In order to increase very'appreciably the force necessary to causethis slipping I provide an additional clamp means or wedge in the formofa key 22.. .I have found from actual test that the key22 mor-e thandoubles the force necessary to effect a slip ping of the flight or cableclamp 'I I.

Centrally positioned in the longitudinally ex-. tending tongue I5 of theclamp member of casting I4 is a groove or recess 23 which hasa flat topsurface 24. This groove is positioned opposite the cable II and receivesthe key 22. The key 22 is formed to have an arcuate surface 25 whichcontacts the top surface'id. As a consequence said key 22 may rockor'pivot on the top surface 24 which will cause one end thereof to diginto the cable 10, thereby effecting a very complete clamping or wedgingaction thereon.

In order to enhance further the wedging orclamping action effected bythe key 22 I provide a particular form of cable contacting surface 26therefor. As clearly illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawing, the key 221soriginally made with the cable contacting surface 26 as a segment of acylinder, the diameter of which is substantially the same as the cablel0. Thereafter, said surface 26 is formed with a plurality of diagonalgrooves 21 which follow lines substantially along the axis of theindividual strands of the cable H]. The diagonal grooves 21, of course,inherently produce diagonal ridges 28 on the surface 26. It will beevident that this particular corrugated formation of the cablecontacting surface 26 provides a surface of the type which will haveintimate contact with the strands of the cable I0 thereby increasing toa maximum the contacting area between said surface 26 and the cable H].

The thickness of the key 22 is so selected that the tongue IE to bothsides thereof will have an appreciable clamping action on the cable Illwhile at the same time an appreciable amount of clamping action will beeffected on said cable ID by the key 22. I

In case the device comprising my invention is intended to be used onlyas a transmission block rather than a flight the webs or flanges l9 and20 will be eliminated, otherwise the structure will be substantially thesame as that above described.

The key 22 may be formed as a drop forging ofsteel and, if desired, maybe given a hardening treatment. It is also possible to form the key 22by milling the grooves 21.

In the operation of the device comprising my invention the flights orcable clamps II will be rigidly clamped to a cable ID at predeterminedintervals. This clamping action will, of course, be effected by screwingdown the nuts I22 on bolts 2|. The tongue I5, which is formedsubstantially in two parts, will, with the groove 13, effect a clampingaction on the cable l0. A supplementary clamping action will be effectedby the key 22 which will have very intimate contact with the cable Illdue to the corrugated formation of the surface 26. Should there be anytendency for slippage between a flight II and the cable l0 duringoperation the key 22 will rock or pivot on its surface 25, therebydigging into the cable l0 and effecting a very thorough wedging action.As before stated, in practice it has been found that this particularconstruction more than doubles the effective clamping action on thecable to.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in thedetails and arrangement I of parts without departing from the spirit andping members, a clamping element positioned in said recess between saidrope gripping mem- .make intimate gripping contact with the irregularsurface of a multiple strand rope, and means for clamping said memberstogether to effect a clamping action between said gripping members andthe rope and'between said clamping element and the rope.

2. A rope clamp comprising complementary members one of which isprovided with a groove and the other with spaced-apart rope grippingtongues adapted to extend into said groove, said grooves and tonguesbeing adapted to co-operate to grip a rope, spaced-apart devices forclamping said members together with the tongues gripping the rope insaid groove, and a rocking supplementary gripping element in a recess inone of members one having a straight rope receiving groove and the otherhaving spaced-apart rope gripping tongues adapted to extend into saidgroove, the member having the tongues being provided with a recessbetween said tongues and opposite the groove in the other member, 'a keyin said recess having grooves and ridges providing an intimate ropecontacting surface toclamp a multiplestrand flexible rope, and aplurality of devices for connecting said complementary members to causesaid spaced-apart tongues and the key between the same to grip the ropeagainst said groove.

4. In combination, complementary members one having a straight uniformrope receiving groove and the other having spaced-apart rope grippingtongues opposite said groove, an enclosed recess extendinglongitudinally along one of said members intermediate the ends thereof,a rope fitting into said groove, means for clamping said spaced-aparttongues against said rope, and. a key mounted for rocking movement insaid recess in position to grip said rope with a wedging actionwhen saidrope tends to slip relatively to said spaced-apart rope grippingtongues.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination with a rope, of apair of complementary clamp members one having a rope receiving grooveand the other spaced-apart rope gripping tongues adapted to extend intosaid groove, a removable locking key in a recess between saidspaced-apart rope gripping tongues, in position to grip the rope betweenthe tongues and sufflciently free to-rock relative to said recess whileconfined therein to effect a wedging gripping action on the rope whenthe latter tends to slip relatively to said gripping tongues, and meansfor clamping the members together with said tongues and said removablelocking key in gripping connection with the rope in said groove.

6. In a conveyer, the combination with a flexible rope of the multiplestrand type, of a sectional flight, a pair of complementary members forcar rying the sections of said flight, one of said members having anelongated body with a straight uniform rope receiving groove and theother member having spaced-apart rope gripping tongues extending intosaid groove, means for clamping said members between said clampingdevices in said complementary members together to effect a clampingaction on said rope between said tongues and said groove, the tonguecarrying member having an enclosed recess between said tongues andhaving a rectangular elongated inner wall spaced from the rope in thegroove and extending longitudinally thereof, and a removable keyextending into said recess and having va gripping face provided With acorrugated surface conforming to the strands of said rope for intimategripping contact therewith, said key having a curved back adapted tohave rocking engagement with the rectangular inner wall of the recess toenable said key to have a clamping action on the rope supplementary tothat of the gripping tongues when the rope tends to slip relatively tosaid tongues.

7. In a, conveyer, the combination with a flexible rope, of a sectionaltransmission block comprising complementary sections, one member havinga rope receiving groove and the other having means co-operating withsaid groove to grip said rope, means for clamping said sections togetherto efiect a clamping action on the rope between said gripping means andsaid groove, one of said sections having an enclosed recess with aninner wall extending longitudinally of said groove and parallel thereto,and a key corrugated on one side to fit the rope and curved on theopposite side for rocking engagement with said rectangular inner wall ofsaid recess, the construction and arrangement being such that theenclosed recess constitutes the sole means for confining the key thereinwhen the clamping means holds together said complementary sections asaforesaid.

8. A rope clamping device comprising complementary members one having agroove for receiving a rope and the other having rope gripping meansextending into said groove, the member having the rope gripping meansbeing provided with an inner enclosed recess having an inner elongatedwall extending longitudinally of said groove and in parallelismtherewith, a key in said recess and having a corrugated face adapted togrip the rope in the groove and also having a curved back in rockingengagement with said inner elongated wall, and two pairs of bolts forsecuring together said complementary -members when said rope is in saidgroove and said key is confined in said recess.

CHARLES G. DElLENBACI-I.

